These are our observations in Cygnus
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Observing June's Galaxy of the Month: NGC6764
On a lovely warm summer's night I hunted out NGC 6764 using my 20” Dob in skies with a NELM of magnitude 5.4/5.5.
At first glance I could see a fuzzy patch surrounding three faint stars but the more I looked the more I saw.
Using x294 I was unable to see more than the small fuzzy patch. The lower star did look brighter than the other two. Using averted vision (AV) this brighter star began to look much like the central halo of the galaxy, and so it was. Also by using AV the fuzz patch had a definite West-East orientation. I noted the double star ES 979 near by to the West.
Increasing the magnification to x470 and using AV there were indications of the central bar either side of the central bright patch. With AV, I was also able to locate the nearby PGC 214715 galaxy.
A series of sketches of NGC 6764 made by Mike Wood from Suffolk on the 27 May 2017 with a 20 inch Dobsonian at a range of magnifications. A delightful way to spend 45 minutes or so teasing out the details.
Mike Wood - 6 June 2017
